CHAPTER IV. 

 STRUGGLES OF THE EARLY SETTLERS. 



1830. In or about 1830 there were many developments in connec- 

 tion with the settlement of the counties of Argyle, Murray, St. Vin- 

 cent ,Dampier, and Auckland. Messrs. Charles Throsby, Henry Bad- 

 gery, and a few other settlers held almost the uninterrupted grazing 

 right of the whole of the open country south and west of Jervis Bay. 

 Those who were spying out the land seldom journeyed further south 

 than Moruya in the late twenties. But the late drought of 1827-28-29 

 created a great rush for those rich lands south of Moruya, and those 

 lands at the head of the Shoalhaven River and its tributaries which 

 were unoccupied by Messrs. Berry and Wollonstonecroft. The larger 

 stockowners had hitherto been content with their holdings in Cum- 

 berland and Camden. Whilst vegetable life is resting during a 

 drought, animal life must be removed where they can hustle for a liv- 

 ing. Hence we find the greedy and the needy all on the move for 

 pastures new. 



Among those who moved towards the low-lying valleys were Messrs. 

 James Osborne, Brooks Bros., Leslie Duguid, and A. B. Spark. James 

 Osborne was at Bong Bong, Brooks Bros, were at Denham Court, 

 Liverpool, Leslie Duguid, Commercial Bank, Sydney, and A. B. 

 Sparks owned Tempe, Cook's River. They jointly and (severally took 

 up the Kangaroo Valley. Mr. George Macleay, of Brownlow Hill, 

 Camden, took up Croobar, Ulladulla. Mr. John Hawden took up 

 Kiora, Bodalla, and Bergalia, in the Moruya district. He had pre- 

 viously lived at Elderslie, Campbelltown. Mr. Abraham Polack, one 

 of Sydney's auctioneers, took up Brogo ; Mr. James Foster, of Bong 

 Bong, took up Narooma, on the Wogonga River ; Mr. George Cur- 

 lewis took up Krarwarres. The Byrnes, of Cadgee, had a great scope 

 of country ; whilst the Imlay Bros., Drs. George and Alexander, R.N., 

 and Mr. Peter Imlay owned the greater part of the country south to 

 Twofold Bay. 



Although the above names only are mentioned, it is not to be 

 understood that they comprise anything like the number of men's 

 names that could be associated with the development of New South 

 Wales, which could be attributed to the search for grass for stock in 

 droughty times from the very dawn of its history. Even at the very 

 period under review there were other settlers trying after the most 

 fancied spots with a view of building up smaller squattages, often in 

 the centre of the bigger holdings. This latter system would, of 

 course, largely depend on the amount of influence the smaller men had 

 with the Government officials. 



Mr. J. T. Campbell was a spirited 1 uyer of cattle in those early 

 thirties. He was an admirer of the Durham, and kept a first-class 

 collection of stud animals. BjJt it would appear that a very large 

 percentage of the cattle raised in those parts were crossbred Long- 

 horns ; the brindled and strawberry bailies, with their long corkscrew 

 horns, were to be found in abundance on every station. Messrs. Wil- 

 liam Campbell and John Hawden's cattle were, however., well sup- 

 plied with the imported bulls (the best obtainable), as both kept stud 

 herds near their homesteads, and as time went on smaller settlers 

 who came and squatted in the locality possessed themselves of the 

 breed very cheaply, a^d raised excellent stock on their own account. 

 Among these settlers might be mentioned the names of O'Keefe, Rae, 

 Flanaghan, and Charles Campbell. 



There were several whaling stations on the sea coast in the vicinity 

 of the Moruya River, which goes to show that a considerable amount 



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